Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, 1st Duke of Lennox, (29 July 167227 May 1723), of Goodwood House near

Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, was the youngest of the seven

illegitimate Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as '' ...

sons of King Charles II, and was that king's only son by his French-born

mistress Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to: Romance and relationships * Mistress (lover), a term for a woman who is in a sexual and romantic relationship with a man who is married to a ...

Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth Louise Renée de Penancoët de Kéroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth (5 September 1649 – 14 November 1734) was a mistress of Charles II of England. Early life Louise was the daughter of Guillaume de Penancoët, Seigneur de Kéroualle (d. 1690) ...

. He was appointed Hereditary Constable of Inverness Castle.

Titles

Various titles became eligible for re-grant following the death in 1672 of King Charles II's childless 4th cousin (both being descended in the male line from

John Stewart, 3rd Earl of Lennox John Stewart, 3rd Earl of Lennox (4 September 1526, Linlithgow, West Lothian) was a prominent Scottish magnate. He was the son of Matthew Stewart, 2nd Earl of Lennox and Lady Elizabeth Hamilton, daughter of James Hamilton, 1st Lord Hamilton and ...

, the paternal grandfather of

Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (1546 – 10 February 1567), was an English nobleman who was the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the father of James VI of Scotland and I of England. Through his parents, he had claims to both the Scottis ...

, father of King James I of England) Charles Stewart, 3rd Duke of Richmond, 6th Duke of Lennox (1639–1672), KG, 12th

Seigneur d'Aubigny Duke of Aubigny (french: Duc d'Aubigny) is a title that was created in the Peerage of France in 1684. It was granted by King Louis XIV of France to Louise de Kérouaille, the last mistress of King Charles II of England, and to descend to Charles ...

in France, of

Cobham Hall Cobham Hall is an English country house in the county of Kent, England. The grade I listed building is one of the largest and most important houses in Kent, re-built as an Elizabethan prodigy house by William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham (1527� ...

in Kent and of

Richmond House Richmond House is a government building in Whitehall, City of Westminster, London. Its name comes from an historic townhouse of the Duke of Richmond that once stood on the site. History Stewart Dukes of Richmond Richmond House was first built ...

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It is the main ...

, London. This Anglicised branch of the Scottish family of "Stewart of

Darnley Darnley is an area in south-west Glasgow, Scotland, on the A727 just west of Arden (the areas are separated by the M77 motorway although a footbridge connects them). Other nearby neighbourhoods are Priesthill to the north, Southpark Village t ...

" had been much beloved and promoted by King James I & VI, whose

favourite A favourite (British English) or favorite (American English) was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In post-classical and early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated si ...

had been the Franco-Scottish Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox, 1st Earl of Lennox (1542–1583), 7th

, his father's first cousin (and great-grandfather of the last in the male line Charles Stewart, 3rd Duke of Richmond, 6th Duke of Lennox). Thus the Lennox and Richmond titles and the French Seigneurie d'Aubigny (effectively the

lordship of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

of the

Château d'Aubigny The Château d'Aubigny in the parish and Manorialism, manor of Aubigny-sur-Nère in the ancient Provinces of France, province of Berry, France, Berry in France, is an historic ancestral seat of a junior branch of the Scottish House of Stewart, know ...

Aubigny-sur-Nère Aubigny-sur-Nère () is a town and commune in the Cher department in the administrative region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. Geography An area of forestry and farming surrounding a small light industrial town, situated in the valley of the r ...

) held special significance for the Stuart monarchs. Moreover, the title

Earl of Richmond The now-extinct title of Earl of Richmond was created many times in the Peerage of England. The earldom of Richmond was initially held by various Breton nobles; sometimes the holder was the Breton duke himself, including one member of the ca ...

had merged into the crown on the accession to the throne in 1485 of King Henry VII, formerly Earl of Richmond, and the Scottish title

Earl of Lennox The Earl or Mormaer of Lennox was the ruler of the region of the Lennox in western Scotland. It was first created in the 12th century for David of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon and later held by the Stewart dynasty. Ancient earls The first earl ...

had merged into the crown of Great Britain, as King James I of England and VI of Scotland was effectively the 5th Earl of Lennox, being the heir of his paternal grandfather

Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox (21 September 1516 – 4 September 1571) was a leader of the Catholic nobility in Scotland. He was the paternal grandfather of King James VI of Scotland and I of England. He owned Temple Newsam in Yorkshire, ...

. On 9 August 1675, King Charles II's illegitimate son (by Louise de Kérouaille) who had been given the surname "Lennox", was created Duke of Richmond,

Earl of March Earl of March is a title that has been created several times in the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of England. The title derived from the "marches" or borderlands between England and either Wales ( Welsh Marches) or Scotland (Scottish Mar ...

, and

Baron Settrington Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher th ...

in the

Peerage of England The Peerage of England comprises all peerages created in the Kingdom of England before the Act of Union in 1707. In that year, the Peerages of England and Scotland were replaced by one Peerage of Great Britain. There are five peerages in t ...

and on 9 September 1675, was created

Duke of Lennox The title Duke of Lennox has been created several times in the peerage of Scotland, for Clan Stewart of Darnley. The dukedom, named for the district of Lennox in Dumbarton, was first created in 1581, and had formerly been the Earldom of Lenno ...

Earl of Darnley Earl of Darnley is a hereditary title that has been created three times, twice in the Peerage of Scotland and once in the Peerage of Ireland. The first creation in the Scots Peerage came in 1580 in favour of Esme Stewart, 1st Earl of Lennox ...

, and Baron Methuen of Torbolten in the

Peerage of Scotland The Peerage of Scotland ( gd, Moraireachd na h-Alba, sco, Peerage o Scotland) is one of the five divisions of peerages in the United Kingdom and for those peers created by the King of Scots before 1707. Following that year's Treaty of Union, ...

. He was invested as a

Knight of the Garter The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George ...

on 18 April 1681. In 1684, at the request of King Charles II, the French King Louis XIV created Louise de Kérouaille " Duchesse d'Aubigny" in the

Peerage of France The Peerage of France (french: Pairie de France) was a hereditary distinction within the French nobility which appeared in 1180 in the Middle Ages. The prestigious title and position of Peer of France (french: Pair de France, links=no) was ...

, with remainder to her descendants. As the 1st Duke predeceased his mother, he never held the French dukedom, which was however inherited by his son, the duchess's grandson. He was appointed

Lord High Admiral of Scotland The Lord High Admiral of Scotland was one of the Great Officers of State of the Kingdom of Scotland before the Union with England in 1707. The office was one of considerable power, also known as ''Royal Scottish Admiralty'', including command ...

, under reservation of the commission granted to James, Duke of Albany and York (later James VII), as Lord High Admiral for life. The appointment was therefore only effective between 1701 and 1705, when Lennox resigned all of his Scottish lands and offices. He was Master of a Lodge in

in 1696, and so was one of the few known seventeenth-century

freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

s. His son followed him into the Freemasons.

Marriage and issue

On 8 January 1692 he married Anne Brudenell (d. 9 December 1722), a daughter of Francis Brudenell, Lord Brudenell (d. 1698), eldest son and

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

Robert Brudenell, 2nd Earl of Cardigan Robert Brudenell, 2nd Earl of Cardigan, 2nd Baron Brudenell (5 March 1607 – 16 July 1703) was an English nobleman. Origins He was born on 5 March 1607, the son of Thomas Brudenell, 1st Earl of Cardigan (c. 1593–1663) by his wife Mary Tresha ...

. By his wife he had issue one son and two daughters: * Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, 2nd Duke of Lennox, 2nd Duc d'Aubigny (1701–1750), son and heir, known during his father's lifetime by the courtesy title of

; * Lady Louisa Lennox (Countess of Berkeley), who married

James Berkeley, 3rd Earl of Berkeley Vice-Admiral James Berkeley, 3rd Earl of Berkeley, (aft. 1679 – 17 August 1736) was the son of Charles Berkeley, 2nd Earl of Berkeley and the Hon. Elizabeth Noel. He was known by the courtesy title of Viscount Dursley prior to succeeding ...

; * Lady Anne Lennox ( Countess of Albemarle), who married

Willem van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle Lieutenant-General Willem (or William) Anne van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle (5 June 1702 – 22 December 1754) was a British soldier, diplomat and courtier. He held various roles in the household of George II (1683-1760), who was a personal fr ...

. By his mistress Jacqueline de Mézières he had a daughter, Renée Lennox (1709–1774), mistress of her half-first-cousin

Charles Beauclerk, 2nd Duke of St Albans Charles Beauclerk, 2nd Duke of St Albans, KG KB (6 April 1696 – 27 July 1751) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1718 until 1726 when he succeeded to a peerage as Duke of St Albans. He was an illegitimate grandson ...

, the son and heir of the sixth illegitimate son of King Charles II (by his mistress Nell Gwyn).

Patron of cricket

He was a

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

of the game of

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

, then becoming a leading professional sport, and did much to develop it in

. It is almost certain that he was involved with the earliest known "great match", which took place in the 1697 season and was the first to be reported by the press. The report was in the ''Foreign Post'' dated Wednesday, 7 July 1697:McCann, p. xli.

"The middle of last week a great match at cricket was played in Sussex; there were eleven of a side, and they played for fifty
guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...
apiece".

The stakes on offer confirm the importance of the fixture and the fact that it was eleven-a-side suggests that two strong and well-balanced teams were assembled. No other details were given but the report provides evidence that cricket, in the form of "great matches" played for high stakes, was in vogue at the time. It was possibly an inter-county match: i.e., a Sussex XI ''versus'' a Kent XI or a Surrey XI. Richmond sponsored a team in the 1702 season against an

Arundel Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England. The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much large ...

side.McCann, p. 1. His son

Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, 2nd Duke of Lennox, 2nd Duke of Aubigny, (18 May 17018 August 1750) of Goodwood House near Chichester in Sussex, was a British nobleman and politician. He was the son of Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmo ...

inherited his interest in cricket and became the patron of both Sussex county cricket teams and

Slindon Cricket Club Slindon Cricket Club was famous in the middle part of the 18th century when it claimed to have the best team in England. It was located at Slindon, a village in the Arun district of Sussex. Cricket in the 18th century was funded by gambling ...

Death and burial

He died on 27 May 1723 and was buried on 7 June 1723 in the ''Richmond Chapel'' (

Henry VII Chapel The Henry VII Lady Chapel, now more often known just as the Henry VII Chapel, is a large Lady chapel at the far eastern end of Westminster Abbey, paid for by the will of King Henry VII. It is separated from the rest of the abbey by brass gates ...

) of

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

, which chapel had been built by King Henry VII, formerly Earl of Richmond. His body was reinterred on 16 August 1750 in the

Lady Chapel A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British term for a chapel dedicated to "Our Lady", Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church. The chapels are also known as a Mary chapel or a Marian chapel, an ...

Chichester Cathedral Chichester Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Chichester. It is located in Chichester, in West Sussex, England. It was founded as a cathedral in 1075, when the seat of ...

in Sussex.

Legacy

Richmond County, New York Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

(coterminous with

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

), and

Richmond County, Virginia Richmond County is a county located on the Northern Neck in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population sits at 8,923. Its county seat is Warsaw. The rural county should not be confused with the large city and state capi ...

, were named after Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, whilst other US counties called "Richmond" were named after later Dukes.

Titles

Marriage and issue

Patron of cricket

Death and burial

Legacy

References

Bibliography

Further reading